An emergency horse welfare rule change, twin foals thriving and other things the equestrian world is talking about

Unnatural foam

The FEI has brought in an emergency rule change banning “unnatural foam” around horses’ mouths. The federation’s board agreed the change, which applies in all disciplines, at its June board meeting. A spokesperson told H&H the move came after the FEI was sent pictures from international events showing “thick sticky foam” covering horses’ mouths. “The FEI investigated the cause and concluded that this unnatural foaming was very likely induced by excessive feeding with treats composed of icing sugar and a binder,” the spokesperson said, adding that this is likely to be used to “mask issues in the oral cavity”. “As such practice is very clearly against horse welfare and has the potential to be harmful to horses’ health, the FEI acted quickly and robustly by explicitly banning the practice.”

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Double birth

An Irish mare who was scanned pregnant with one foal has delivered two healthy colts. Caroline Holland told H&H her daughter Abbie’s mare Charlie was not overly large and carried her pregnancy to term, and that the twin brothers are of a good size. “We always scan and would never continue with twins but the second one was undetected,” she said. “She went to 324 days, it’s amazing she went so long, but there were no signs whatsoever.” One of the pair was a “dummy foal” but Caroline performed the Madigan squeeze. “He’s been the stronger one since,” she said. “We’ve called him Loreto, which means ‘miraculous’, and the other one is Darko, which means ‘gift’.”

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Jockey in court

Four-time champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy may have new conditions imposed on his licence after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving. Oisin was fined £70,000 at Reading Magistrates’ Court today (3 July) in relation to an accident in April, when the Mercedes he was driving hit a tree. Oisin, who had no previous convictions, was also banned from driving. The British Horseracing Authority said: “His conduct fell a long way short of the standard we expect of all licensed individuals… In light of Mr Murphy’s guilty plea and the information revealed in court today, we will be working on the addition of new conditions on his licence that may be referred to the licensing committee for their consideration.”

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